TK t7lZ 

MisCe 



Sn 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 492 861 1 






Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



V FJL5 P V 






>l 



PR 4793 
.H78 C6 
Copy 1 



% 



% 








3 

I -is} 



- ■ 



THE 

CONVICT'S COMPLAINT 

in 1815, 



AND THE 



THANKS OF THE CONVICT 

in 1825. 



THE 

CONVICT'S COMPLAINT 

in 1815, 

AND THE 

THANKS OF THE CONVICT 

in 1825; 

OH, SKETCHES IN VERSE OF 

A HULK 

l FORMER 

AND OF THE 

MILLBANK PENITENTIARY 

IN THE LATTER ; 

BEING AN ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE IN LINES, SUPPOSED TO BE 

WRITTEN BY PRISONERS FIRST, THE CONDITION OF CONVICTS IN 

A PRISON, WHICH PROVIDES SIMPLY FOR THE SAFE CUSTODY 

OF THE PERSON OF THE OFFENDER AND SECONDLY, 

THEIR TREATMENT UNDER AN IMPROVED SYSTEM 
OF MANAGEMENT AT MILLBANK. 

WITH A FEW PREFATORY 

STATEMENTS AND REMAR 








BY G; HOLFORD, ESQ. M.P 



Hontton : 

SOLD BY RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO-PLACE AND ST. PAUL's-CHURCH- 
YARD, AND HATCHARD, PICCADILLY. 




1825. 






Printed by the Philanthropic Society, St. George's Fields. 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



In the following pages an attempt is made to 
give sketches of two prisons for convicts, conducted 
upon very different principles : one of them, a prison 
in which the attention bestowed on the prisoner 
extends no further than to the safe custody of his 
person in a place of punishment ; while in the 
other, the system of management is framed with 
a view of making the punishment of the offender 
subservient to his amendment. 

Ten years ago it was not necessary to go further 
than to the Hulks for a complete picture of a 
prison of the former description. — The following 
extract is taken from a Report of a Committee of 
the House of Commons, which made a very minute 

A 



VI 

inquiry into the particulars of the hulk establish- 
ment in 1812, of which Committee I had the 
honour to be Chairman, and whose Report^ was 
founded entirely on the testimony of the officers 
themselves belonging to the hulks, without any 
reference to the evidence of prisoners, or of persons 
who had been confined on board those vessels. 
Neither the captain, nor any other officer, ever 
visits the parts of the ship, in which the prisoners 
are corifined, after the hatches are locked down,\ 
except upon some extraordinary emergency, or in 
cases of disturbance, which very rarely occur. 
And it seems doubtful whether, in some of the 
hulks at least, an officer could go down among 
the prisoners at night, without the risk of personal 
injury : the guards never go among them at night. 

* See the Third Report of the Committee of the House of 
Commons, appointed " to consider of the expediency of erecting 
a Penitentiary House, &c. &c." who were also "instructed to 
inquire into the state of punishment in the hulks, and to 
report their opinion thereupon, together with any improvement 
which may appear to be practicable therein." The Report was 
ordered to be printed on the 22d June, 1812. 

t A period, which, as is stated in another part of the Report, 
included, during the winter, nearly two- thirds of the twenty- 
four hours. 



VII 



Under these circumstances, there can be no doubt 
of the prevalence among the convicts (while thus 
left without restraint upon their behaviour) of 
gambling, swearing, and every kind of vicious 
conversation. Speaking of a doubt that prevailed, 
whether the convicts often ill used each other, the 
Report adds, The Captain of the Captivity, or? 
being ashed whether convicts often complain of 
having been ill-treated at night by their com- 
panions, says, u It is a thing they dare not do 
in the Captivity, but in the Laurel* (which he 
formerly commanded,) they used to bring them 
up manfully'' The Captain of the Portland, 
who states that instances of their maltreating each 
other after they are locked down, are very rare, 
adds, on being asked whether a convict maltreated 
by his companion would venture to complain, u If 
marks of violence appeared they know it would be 
observed, sometimes they do not tell me, but ivhen I 
see the marks of violence, I call on them, and 
then they tell me? The same Captain states 
upon the subject of the manner in ivhich the 
convicts employ themselves at night, that if any 
noise like rapping or hammering is heard after a 

* The Laurel was a much smaller hulk than the rest. 

a2 



Vlll 



certain hour, they are desired to go to bed, it being 
known that they are making money, hammering 
out crowns and half-crowns into sixpences, the 
manufacture of which he represents as having been 
carried on by the convicts for some year's. 

Among other recommendations contained in 
that Report for the improvement of the hulk 
establishment, was the suggestion of such a mode 
of fitting up the vessels used for hulks, as should 
allow of the separation of the persons confined, 
into many divisions or classes, and should place 
them within the reach of inspection at all times. 

A hulk having been fitted up in conformity to a 
design given in the Appendix to the Report, it was 
stationed at Sheerness by way of experiment, but 
no advantage was derived for some time from that 
measure, owing to the indisposition of the person, 
who was in charge of the vessel, to carry into effect 
the views of improvement with which it had been 
prepared c 

In May 1815, when I visited the hulks at Sheer- 
ness, on going down with some of the officers of 
the new ship between decks into the inspection 



passages, some hours after the hatches had been 
closed, (at eleven or twelve o'clock at night,) I 
found that the different compartments, into which 
the hulk was divided, were open, or shut, at the 
pleasure of the convicts ; and I learned, at the 
same time, that beer was sold on board the vessel by 
night, as well as by day, with the connivance of 
the Captain, if not for his profit ; it was also 
probable, that the greater part of the purchase 
money came from the plunder of the public stores, 
for it appeared that about thirty pounds worth of 
articles stolen from the Dock-yard had been dis- 
covered on a search of the private boxes of the 
convicts, which took place a few months before I 
went down, a list of which articles was put into 
my hands. These facts were stated in the proper 
quarter, and, after due enquiry, the Captain of the 
hulk was dismissed, as I mentioned in the House of 
Commons, on the 22nd of June, 1815, in a speech 
which was afterwards printed. 

Such was the state of the hulks when Mr. 
Capper was appointed to superintend them. I 
understand they are now much better regulated, 
and I believe there is not any hulk at present which 
has not passages from whence the cells or apart- 



ments, in which the convicts pass the night, may be 
inspected, and in which they are not, in fact, nnder 
inspection after being locked np at proper hours. 
I do not therefore mean to apply the description of 
the Hulks, which was accurately true in 1815, to 
their present state ; but I refer to their former con- 
dition, for the purpose of contrasting a bad prison 
with what a prison may be made ; — of shewing the 
point from which we set out ;-— of exhibiting the 
situation and treatment of the convicts, who were 
imprisoned under sentence of transportation, when 
we first began to erect the Millbank Penitentiary, 
and of justifying those, who have endeavoured for 
some years past to call the attention of the country 
to its prisons, from the imputation of unnecessary 
interference and misplaced humanity. We have, 
some of us at least, been accused of wishing to 
render prisons too comfortable, and to introduce 
luxury into them ; but I know of no desire in 
any quarter to give convicted prisoners any other 
comforts than such as are essential to health, or to 
introduce any other luxuries than those connected 
with cleanliness, which has a strong moral tendency. 

That much has been done in the way of improve- 
ment in the Hulks, I do not doubt, but that it is 






xi 

possible to give to the Hulk establishment the 
advantages, in regard to discipline and management, 
which are to be found at Millbank, I do not believe. 
Perhaps we abandoned too lightly in the Committee 
of 1812 the hope, which we were very anxious to 
see realized, of making separate night cells in a 
hulk, for we gave up that project after looking at 
one or two designs only, which were not the work 
of a person conversant with ship building. I have 
lately seen a design of a hulk, to be fitted up with 
separate night cells, which would be capable of 
containing 200 prisoners : the vessel was a long 
seventy-four gun ship, and the expense of fitting 
was calculated at about £20,000. So long as the 
prisoners cannot be lodged separately, during the 
large portion of their time which will not be 
employed in labour, on board these vessels, they 
never can be made good reformatory prisons. 

Of all the points to be attended to in a place 
of confinement, in which any hope of reformation 
is entertained, that of giving to each person a 
separate night-cell is the most important. Eight 
or ten individuals may form a very profligate 
society, if kept constantly together, who might each 
of them be well-behaved, if placed apart from the 



Xll 



rest during a considerable portion of the 24 hours. 
Each of the inmates of the common cell will pro- 
bably, at times,, be disposed to serious reflection, 
which, if properly encouraged, might lead to per- 
manent amendment : but unless the disposition to 
seriousness should come on all of them at the same 
time, (which is not to be supposed,) it is not likely 
to be so cultivated as to produce any lasting benefit. 
It is not likely that a man should give way to the 
sorrow occasioned by the recollection of his past 
misconduct, that he should apply himself to his 
Bible, or kneel down in prayer, while his companions 
in the same cell are indulging in light or profligate 
conversation, or perhaps turning into ridicule those 
feelings which, at other times, they might themselves 
experience. There is nothing so discouraging to 
the repentant criminal, as the fear of being laughed 
at by his former colleagues and confederates in 
vice ; and it is so common a practice (not confined 
to prisoners) for men to jest or sneer at those who 
treat any subject more gravely than they are them- 
selves disposed to do at the instant, that the writer 
of this may not improbably be called a Saint, or a 
Methodist for these observations, by some who, 
if they would take the trouble to read them a 
second time, would not deny their truth. If 



Xlll 

prisoners are not under proper management in the 
day-time, Conscience will often lose by day the 
ground which she has gained during the night ; 
but unless they have separate night-cells, she will 
probably never gain any ground at all. 

The prisoner who is represented as speaking the 
lines describing the Penitentiary in the following 
pages, is supposed to be a convict of that class for 
which the Penitentiary is best calculated, viz. of 
one whose offence is of such a nature, as to call 
for a severe punishment, but whose heart has not 
been hardened or corrupted by a profligate course 
of life, or a long continuance in other prisons. 

That prisoners of this description may be rescued 
from destruction, and restored to a decent and 
respectable situation in society, can no more be 
denied, than it can be doubted, whether it be our 
duty to attempt such restoration where there shall 
appear to be any prospect of success. At all events, 
we can control the behaviour of the most vicious 
while they remain in confinement, and prevent 
them from insulting or contaminating such of their 
fellows as are less inured to the commission of 
crime than themselves. Even those persons, who 



XIV 

tell us that a prison cannot, under any regulation, 
be made a seminary of virtue, will admit, that it 
may become a school of vice ; and if we are too 
sanguine in hoping, that the good seed sown there, 
will come to maturity, we are surely not mistaken 
in supposing, that the lessons of wickedness, which 
convicts may learn during their imprisonment, if 
not under proper management, are likely to be 
reduced to practice on their release. 






THE 

CONVICT'S COMPLAINT 
in 1815. 



O ye, who dwell in affluence and ease, 
Whom dainties feed, and thousands toil to please, 
Pause, while the groan of misery meets your ear — 
A moment pause in pleasure's gay career : 
Leave for a time the dance and splendid show, 5 
And look in mercy on a brother s woe ; 
A brother still, though criminal and base, 
Fall'n like the common father of our race- 
Like him forewarned, (be all my shame confess' d), 
The line of right, I knowingly transgress'd : 10 

My parents train d me from life's early day, 
In virtue's path ; they taught, and shew'd the way ; 



16 

(Thank Heaven, they both are spar'd this scene of 

grief ; 
They died before their son became a thief.) 
In humble life, I us'd my utmost skill, 15 

The duties of my station to fulfil : 
Till loose companions led me into vice ; 
Taught me to lie, and swear, and drink, and dice. 
In want, of friends and character bereft, 
I join d myself to those who live by theft ; 20 

My course was short, my trembling hand betray'd 
Its purpose, in the first attempt I made. 
Just was my sentence ; nor do I complain 
Of daily labour or the galling chain ; 
Plac'd by the law beneath a jailer's sway, 25 

His rule, without a murmur, I obey. 
But that I should from fellow-prisoners bear 
Insult or blow, or in their vices share, 
That I should do their will, or dread their ire, 
Nor law hath said, nor justice doth require. 30 

When Evening o'er the ship her shadow throws, 
With aching heart I hear the hatches close. 
On the same deck confin'd, a various crew 
Employment various, as their choice, pursue : 
No keeper nigh, their conduct to behold, 35 

Free are their words, their actions uncontrol'd. 



17 

Here works are carried on of lawful trade, 

Here implements of fraud and vice are made ; 

The coiner's hammer sounds upon the ear, 

And picklock keys are manufactur'd here :> — 40 

Here sleepless gamblers pass in play the night, 

Dispute for petty stakes, and swear, and fight. 

The purchas'd slave, his daily labour o'er, 

Fatigu'd with toil, perhaps with lashes sore, 

Enjoys at least some respite from his woes, 45 

When on his bed his weary limbs he throws, 

And, sinking in night's friendly shades to rest, 

Sleeps undisturb'd, and in his dreams is bless'd : 

Not so the Convict 'midst the horrid din 

Of oaths and strife, in this sad house of sin ; 50 

Not e'en though penitence and prayer should close 

His eyes in hope, and promise him repose ; 

He knows not rest, the horrors of the night 

Mix with his dreams, and rouse him with affright. 

If, hopeless then of sleep, the book he seek, 55 

Whose pages comfort to the sinner speak, 

And if, in Christian charity and love, 

His fellows he admonish or reprove, 

Then laughter loud and ridicule prevail, 

Loose jests and wanton songs his ear assail ; 60 

Then some, more daring than the rest, deny 

Their Maker, and the wrath of Heav'n defy ; 



18 

And glory in their crimes, and deeds unfold, 
Which blanch the cheek, and make the blood run 

cold. 
Nor dwells their converse on the past alone, 65 
Here seeds of future wickedness are sown ; 
Here arts of fraud are taught; here leagues are made, 
Of blackest guilt, and plans of mischief laid. 
The young offender with amazement hears 
The sins and outrages of riper years ; 70 

But soon familiar grows with every crime, 
A veteran in vice while in his prime. 
Confine not youth in this abandon'd place, 
To herd with every thing most vile and base : 
Let Justice rather strike her victim dead, 75 

Than send him here the path of sin to tread ; 
Where Vice unblushing tells her grossest tale, 
And images^ obscene are made for sale. 
Place not the boy with those who every art 
Employ to harden and corrupt the heart : 80 

* Bone Images. The evidence, on which the Report of the 
Committee of the House of Commons of 1812 on the Hulks was 
founded, was not printed, and I do not now recollect whether the 
statement of this fact was taken down as part of it ; but I well 
remember, that the fact was mentioned in the Committee room 
by one of the Masters of the Hulks : — it was quite notorious. I 
do not believe that any thing of that kind could be done now. 



19 

'T were better doom him to the lion's den, 
Than to this curs'd abode of wicked men. 

For me, if, while these artless lines ye read, 
Ye feel compassion in your bosom plead ; 

! give it way, and make my hardships known 85 
To those who stand in council by the throne. 
These evils let the hand of power redress, 

And thousands more with me that hand shall bless. 

Just is the suit I urge ; I do not ask 

Deliv'rance from my fetters or my task ; 90 

1 ask that justice which to all belongs ; 

I ask protection from unlicens'd wrongs ; 

I ask from final ruin to be sav'd, 

Before my mind is utterly deprav'd. 

I do not all, that once I learn' d, forget ; 95 

The fear of God is not extinguished yet : 

His grace can raise me, though by guilt debas'd ; 

His image, though obscur'd, is not effac'd ; 

My heart is not yet harden'd into stone ; 

The Lord my Hope and Saviour still I own : 100 

That Lord, who listens to the voice of grief; 

Who pardon'd on the cross the dying thief! 

Let man then duly weigh the convict's prayer, 
Nor think the criminal beneath his care. 



20 

The law forgets its duty and its end, 105 

Which makes more wicked those it should amend. 

And let the rulers of the land reflect, 

If Vice grow rank in gaols, by their neglect, 

Not she alone must answer for the crimes 

Her arm may perpetrate in after-times ; 110 

If the same hand, which on its first essay 

Shrunk back from theft, and trembling dropp'd its prey 

Made callous here, shall grasp the murd'rer's knife, 

And strike, without remorse, at human life, 

On them will rest, partakers in the guilt, 115 

A portion of the blood that shall be spilt. 






THE 

THANKS OF THE CONVICT 

in 1825. 



Thanks be to those who plann'd these silent cells, 
Where Sorrow's true-born child, Repentance, dwells ; 
Where Justice, sway'd by Mercy, doth employ 
Her iron rod to chasten, not destroy ; 
The slave of vice to virtue deigns restore, 5 

And bids him, once enfranchis'd, sin no more. 
What man can tell, when once he goes astray, 
How far his steps shall wander from the way ? 
Who knows the perils which his feet surround, 
When rashly venturing on forbidden ground ? 10 
In evil hour I yielded to explore 
The Gamblers haunts, and entered Folly's door; 
Rash, fatal step ! among the midnight crew 
I stay'd to practise what I came to view ; 

B 



22 

My purse soon gone, what language can express 1 5 

The bitter anguish of my deep distress, 

When fortune left me at the break of day, 

Involv'd in debt beyond my means to pay ? 

I pledg'd my word ; the rest is quickly told, 

I kept my promise, but purloin'd the gold. 20 

I own my doom was just, I did the deed 

For which the law had punishment decreed ; 

My crime was great ; of reason quite bereft, 

I added base ingratitude to theft. 

Yet surely, school'd within these walls, my mind 25 

Again to better thoughts may be inclin'd ; 

And sooner would I here the irksome sway 

Of discipline from morn till night obey, 

Than herd with those, who still in prison uphold 

The reign of vice, and riot uncontrol'd. 30 



Here every action is by rule defin'd ; 

To each its proper time and place assign'd ; 

Oft sounds the prison bell, and as it rings, 

Its brazen voice a known commandment brings ; 

By rule our several duties we fulfil, 35 

Now throw the shuttle, and now turn the mill, 

Now, march'd in pairs, the beaten circle trace 

Around the gravell' d courts, with measur'd pace. 



23 

Now take our meal, and now, with list'ning ear, 
Attentive stand the word of God to hear. 40 

And now in school we learn to read or write, 
Or letters to our friends, with leave, indite. 
Now homage to our heavenly Father pay, 
And prayer, which usher'd in, concludes the day. 



Nor fetter here nor chain the prisoner galls ; 45 

Nor sound of stripes is known within these walls ; 

Nor do I hear the voice of harsh command ; 

Nor 'gainst me dares my fellow lift his hand : 

Throughout the day a keepers eye is near, 

Nor broil nor tumult but must reach his ear ; 50 

But if his patience by our faults is try'd, 

Tis not from him, our censure we abide ; 

He but reports th' offence, the charge preferr'd, 

Before a higher power is duly heard ; 

Nor is the pris'ner left without redress, 55 

If they who guard him, injure or oppress ; 

Our printed rules the various channels show, 

Through which petition or complaint may flow. 

Nor wrong nor insult in this place we fear ; 

Yet is the weight of punishment severe : 60 

Here never sound of joy on echo calls ; 

Nor sports nor games enliven these sad walls ; 



24 



Here discipline and order rule, nor deign 
To slack throughout the year the tighten'd rein, 
Admit not Mirth with convicts to reside, 65 

But send her hence, with Innocence to bide. 



When first receiv'd, within my narrow room 

Alone I ply'd the labours of the loom ; 

But now a few companions cheer the day, 

And Time seems less to loiter on his way ; 70 

Still do I rest when sounds the evening bell, 

Apart from others, in a separate cell ; 

There, while the sun's bright beams prolong their stay, 

And give a portion of the night to day, 

I turn me to the book wherein we trace 75 

God's gracious dealings with our wayward race : 

That book, which pardon, in Christ's holy name, 

Bids e'en the convict from his Maker claim. 

But when pale Winter in his turn prevails, 

And ere we cease our toils, the day-light fails, 80 

In solitude and darkness I compare 

What others suffer with the lot I bear, 

And own 'twas mercy, and not vengeance, sent 

The convict to this place of punishment. 

How many are there, on whose houseless heads, 85 

Its pelting rain the angry tempest sheds ? 



25 

How many, who abide, with limbs half bare^ 

The keen encounter of the frosty air ? 

How many sweat to earn a scanty meal ? 

Or, faint with toil, the pangs of hunger feel ? 90 

Here shelter, food, and raiment we enjoy, 

Nor need on Nature's wants our thoughts employ. 

Nor gambling here, nor drink, nor idle jest, 

First rouse the mind, then leave it more depress'd. 

But if, when conscience, in these lonely cells, 95 

To their just size our past offences swells, 

Remorse in secret on her victim prey, 

His spirits droop, and health and strength decay, 

The aid, which man can minister, is near, 

Nor mind nor body is neglected here. 100 

The Leech with med'cine goes his daily round, 

The soul's Physician probes the mental wound. 

Within the prison's gate the Chaplain dwells, 

And speaks the words of comfort through its cells ; 

To all in turn his notice he extends, 105 

Exhorts, reproves, admonishes, commends ; 

The ways of God to ignorance makes known, 

And labours hard to change the heart of stone. 

There are, who still decry th' attempt, as vain, 
To make the stricken convict whole again ; 110 



26 

Who deem this mansion's priee, an useless cost, 

And call the pains here taken, labour lost ; 

Who those, that think good fruit in prison will 

grow, 
Bid seed on rocks or in the waters sow. 
Mistaken men ! in his own time the Lord 115 

May cause the deafest ear to hear his word : 
While there is life, there's hope, the doctor cries, 
Nor undisputed leaves to death the prize, 
Still strives to rouse the body's dormant heat, 
When the pulse sinks, and heart scarce seems to 
beat ; 120 

And will ye to the powers of hell resign 
The soul not yet condemn'd by wrath divine ? 
And of all chance of heaven for him despair, 
Who yet on earth is Providence's care ? 
What warrant have ye to exclude from grace 125 
One living sinner of the human race ? 
Know ye the sin that may not be subdu'd ? 
Or sight too blind by grace to be renew'd ? 
Of thieves and harlots have we not been told, 
By the good Shepherd brought within his fold ? 130 
Did not the nations hear those lips proclaim 
The reign of Christ, which most had scorn'd his 
name ? 







27 

But widely do they err, who think it clear, 
That Satan combats with advantage here ; 
Already hath he prov'd a treacherous guide, 135 
To those who captive in these cells abide ; 
The inmates of these walls have been betray'd 
To ruin by the master they obey'd ; 
Nor longer in his power dare put their trust, 
O'er whelm' d with shame, and humbled to the 
dust ; 140 

With warning voice doth Wisdom cry in vain, 
While Vice her votaries leads in Pleasure's train, 
But from her victims, in these sad retreats, 
The word of truth a ready hearing meets ; 
Here gladly to instruction we attend, 145 

And friendless seek the Chaplain for a friend ; 
His good report those friends may yet restore, 
Whose loss, too late awaken'd, we deplore ; 
Persuade offended parents to relent, 
And knit again the ties which vice hath rent. 150 
Nor hope is here unknown ; promotion here 
On merit waits, whene'er it shall appear ; 
And every action here is duly weigh'd ; 
And full records for their inspection made ; 
By whose advice, th' impartial hand of power 155 
May set us free before th' appointed hour. 



28 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

m 



014 492 861 1 



160 



Oft does the Crown its mercy inter 

These massy gates by pardon to unclose, 

And bids the sufferings of the prisoner cease, 

Ere the stern law its victim would release. 

O may it quickly send me home, to cheer 

The eyes my crimes have dimm'd with many a tear, 

And may I ne'er forget my fall retriev'd, 

But profit by the warnings here receiv'd, 

Avoid the rock, on which in youth I ran, 165 

And live in peace henceforth with God and man, 



THE END. 



Printed by the Philanthropic Society, St. George'g Fields. 



TK t7lZ 



Si* 




Hollinger Corp. 
P H 8.5 



